Democratic Ohio Town Loosens Its Party Ties

You can forgive some Democrats for wondering why their party is not faring better in this riverside town of 17,000, a longtime stronghold of the United Auto Workers.

After all, the Obama administration’s rescue of General Motors allowed the company to keep running the giant foundry here, a mainstay of the local economy. If the recession drove joblessness here beyond 13 percent, the lengthy extensions of unemployment benefits in the stimulus package enabled struggling residents to keep their homes and keep patronizing local businesses.

But bonds to the Democratic Party seem to be loosening here in northwest Ohio, after two years of hardship and a growing sense that many children will be financially worse off than their parents. Skepticism about big government has hardened, especially among the small-business owners who are an increasingly dominant civic voice.